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The Greening of the Gridiron

By Tobin Harshaw November 5, 2007 10:22 amNovember 5, 2007 10:22 am

Well, we all thought the big news in pro football would be yestereday’s much anticipated Colts-Patriots tilt or rookie running back Adrian Peterson’s record-setting day, but it seems the gridiron is taking on a new shade of green. Chris Mottram, the irreverant Mr. Irrelevant comments on the news: “The massive market of hippie football fans is about to get their heads blown: NBC is going “green” all week. And it kicks off with Sunday Night Football.”

Mottram then quotes the report from Sports Business Daily:

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” officially will become a “green” show this weekend, as it kicks off an initiative that will see the broadcaster televise 150 hours of environmentally-themed content this week across its broadcast and cable networks, online sites and mobile platforms. … Green week will start one hour into “Football Night in America,” at 8:00pm ET. That’s when studio host Bob Costas will explain the initiative. … About 90 seconds before the end of the pre-game show, NBC literally plans to turn the lights out, having the pregame crew finish the show in the dark. The studio lights will stay off through the halftime and post-game shows.

“I suggest that as part of NBC’s ‘Green is Universal’ program, they tell us just how much energy their halftime interviews cost, in pounds of CO2,” writes Jimmie at The Sundries Shack.

“I’d also be interested to know just how many airmiles Costas, Olbermann, and the rest travel to cover the games, also in total pounds of CO2 emitted. Not that I don’t believe that NBC should broadcast football games, complete with pregame and halftime shows. I just want to know what their carbon footprint is for each broadcast so I can determine whether they have any grounds on which to criticize me for my lifestyle.”

That was the most ridiculous politically correct nonsense that I’ve seen in a long time. It was supposed to be a football game for God’s sake, not a political statement. This is a prime example of “… no one ever went broke underestimating the brains of network executives (sic)”. (With apologies to H. L. Mencken).

For starters it is my understanding that Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas do the show via NYC and not at the location of the game. If I am correct, which I believe I am, then Olbermann would get zero airmiles considering his regular job places him in NYC five nights a week as well.

What a stunt that was – if you actually watched it last night, their attitude was actually somewhat snarky about having to shut the lights out – the entire time Costas et al were making sarcastic comments about having the lights out. If NBC really wants to inspire people to be more conscious about energy use, their employees have to be a little more on board versus the way they were last night.

not only should they turn off the lights but turn off the sound too. run a “crawl” on the screen. maybe try doing “announcerless games” like the jets game they did about 30 years ago. in fact they could do this for all future jets games. they are already green.

PS do they know what is the carbon footprint of all the cars waiting to get out of the meadowlands onto the turnpike?

from a frustrated jets fan requesting the team move back to shea stadium (future parking lot in 2009.)

I was struck, during last night’s “green” broadcast, by the blimp’s-eye view of Lincoln Financial Field, which also showed the fully-lit up Citizens’ Bank Park, where no baseball games will be played for the next 5+ months. Why were all the lights on at the Phillies’ stadium? How green is that?

The airing, during Sunday Night Football, of the disingenuous ads from GM touting their environmentally friendly cars was another way of keeping viewers “in the dark”. This from a company that has been instrumental in keeping fuel economy low, denying that global warming is a problem, and suing to prevent states from passing pollution laws (see Union of Concerned Scientists “How Automakers Threaten and Mislead Consumers” – http://www.ucsusa.org)

Beyond looking for the hypocrisies, of which there are many, I think we should all be looking at the subtext:

General Electric is superimposing an overt public affairs campaign on top of its premier sports broadcasting content. Can anyone recall this happening before? I sure can’t, exclusive of 9/11.

The subtext is, GE brass thinks we’re in deep doo-doo vis-a-vis the global climate, and they’re going to step on their own programming, brand, and image to tell us so. This also means GE has determined, as a publicly held company, that it is in its fiduciary interest to insert this campaign into its programming.

I think yesterday’s move was true bellwether in American mass communications, not necessarily for its impact on public attitudes but as a reflection of scientific consensus on mass media attitudes.

I’d like to know how much carbon/electricity is wasted lighting Lincoln Financial Field. If NBC dropped it’s night time game and let all the games be played during the day there would be no need to light the field.

One way that the NFL could reduceit’s carbon emissions is to build new stadiums in urban areas without any or with extremely limited parking and with good access to public transit. Yes this will probably put an end to the tailgate party but I’m pretty sure that when the NY Giants played in Yankee stadium the fans didn’t spend the pre-game drinking and grilling outside. Tailgating is not a required part of the game and neither is acres of parking.

“I just want to know what their carbon footprint is for each broadcast so I can determine whether they have any grounds on which to criticize me for my lifestyle.”

Of course the “going green” concept is silly in this context, but why do people always go on the defensive when being environmentally friendly is brought up? Is a lifestyle actually even being criticized? Corporate hyprocrisy (one wrong) doesn’t make any other wrongs right or make it OK (especially if you have kids) not to care about the planet.

The saying goes “that we swallow a camel and strain at a gnat”. Yes NBC’s offering might have been cheesy, too politically correct, and sophomoric. But if we believe any part of Al Gore’s message, that CO2 levels are increasing exponentially, then we ought to be thankful that the national media is presenting the message to the masses. Next let us see a NASCAR race run at night with only headlights.

My roommates and I just wonder how much energy they’d save if they turned off all those monstrous LCDs and other displays that seem to line their studio, rather than turning off the lights. I bet it would be a lot more effective and a lot less of a publicity stunt.

This is just another way that the mainstream media is trying to act like they actually care about “green” issues, when we all know they don’t. Turning off some lights, common, that seems to be more for show than anything. At least they did something I guess.